Omicron Variant Causes Public Health Officials to Rethink Vaccine Booster Recommendations

With the discovery of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, much uncertainty has been injected into the conversation about booster vaccines — from questions about who should get them and when, to the matter of how using vaccine doses as boosters in the U.S. can prevent lower-income countries from receiving first dose supplies.

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The Ethical Challenges of Neural Technology

Neural engineering is an emerging interdisciplinary field that utilizes engineering techniques to discover the function and manipulate the behavior of the human brain. Current research in neural engineering focuses on the development of treatments for neurological disorders that deplete the health of the nervous system and explores how the nervous system operates in both health and disease. Neural engineering has huge potential to relieve suffering in those who have lost functionality in their nervous systems, but the further development of this technology raises a number of ethical questions about identity, privacy, responsibility, and justice. These questions must be thoroughly addressed in order to guarantee the most responsible future development and use of neural engineering technologies.

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Surgeons Perform First Successful Pig-to-Human Transplant Using a Genetically-Engineered Animal

In a revolutionary feat of science, medicine, and engineering, surgeons at NYU have successfully transplanted a pig kidney into a human. However, as biotech companies rush to develop suitable animal organs for transplants, we must address the ethical concerns behind xenotransplantation.

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